Wings of Hope
by Daygoner
Summary: The Sweep took away the power, the ordered society, the technology and worst of all, it set all the mutants in Washington DC free. Suddenly, Max finds herself in command of a bigger flock than she could ever have imagined...MaxFang pairing
1. The Sweep

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride. But I'm looking to buy the second book soon.

**Set BEFORE the events of School's Out Forever (it's not released where I live yet); carries straight on from where The Angel Experiment left off.**

**Wings of Hope**

Chapter One: The Sweep

It's funny how everything begins and ends with flying. Every story, every chapter of our lives starts and ends with the rush of the breeze through our wings as we cut through the wind and go against the currents of the air. I mean, what else needs to be said; we're half a dozen kids with wings - what else are we gonna do with them?

Anyway, as I said, everything pretty much starts off with flying. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Angel and I were doing so – flying, if you didn't catch those last two sentences – and Total wasn't so much. More like lapping at the cold air like it was water, but it only made his little pink tongue drier, so he had to keep re-salivating to keep it wet. I guess that's why Fang was so distressed when the dog decided to perch his head on his shoulder; he'd get a nice dribble of dog muck soaking into his T-shirt and down his neck as an added bonus. I couldn't help but smile.

"Max?" Nudge banked and pulled up alongside me, our wings just about brushing as we down-stroked. Uh-oh. This could either be a 'I'm hungry' or a 'What do you think dot dot dot, et cetera et cetera' Nudge-one-sided conversation. Or a 'Don't you think –'

"Max?" Nudge repeated. "What do you think DC's gonna be like?" What'd I tell you – the girl can only phrase the five major Ws; who, what, where, when and why. But I love her really. She went on to answer herself without waiting for me to even open my mouth; "I mean, I think it's great that we get to meet our parents and all, but what if the city's horrible and the people are nasty and we have to stay there for a long time because it takes a long time to find the flock's moms and dads? And what if there are even more Erasers there? What if we have no parents there in the first place? What do we do then? What if –"

"Nudge," I addressed her firmly, trying to stem the flow of steadily worsening pessimism from her lips. Gosh, she used to be so optimistic (at least, she was when I last checked this morning), and now she's freaking out about all the bad things that could happen. She can't do that. That's my job. "I know you're nervous, but seriously, there's nothing to be worried about." Other than getting your head chewed by a man-wolf like it's a fluffy toy or something, when we get there – but then, that's a danger we face everyday, right? "I doubt that there are more Erasers in Washington than in any other area, but even if there are, we'll just kick butt and leave. Assuming we don't find our parents that is."

Nudge nodded like she understood, but I saw the doubt in her eyes. I wish I could have come up with something upbeat and hopeful to say, but how was that possible when my misgivings were a hundred tons heavier than hers?

"What's this about not finding our parents?" Iggy demanded from below, angling his head towards me, even though I knew he couldn't see me. Could he have said it any louder? What _was _originally a Max-Nudge conversation, had turned into a full-flock crisis: he had everyone worried now; Angel's attention snapped onto me, Fang turned round to face me with mild surprise in his eyes (Total planted a sticky tongue on his cheek, but Fang ignored it), Gazzy frowned and flew closer and Nudge looked at me with renewed intensity. _Time to think hard, Max. You're the leader, you've got to set a positive attitude for the rest of the flock…_

"Guys, guys, guys," I said, gesturing emphatically, making myself wobble about a bit in the air; Fang rolled his eyes as he continued his smooth gliding despite the squirming dog on his back. I would have stuck my tongue out at him, but that wouldn't have been very mature, would it? "Of course we're gonna find your parents. It's just… You know, you've got to take certain things into account; like maybe you'll find your parents, but they might not – _you_ might not be exactly what they expect. I mean, some of them think there're child is dead, so when a kid with wings suddenly turns up on their doorstep claiming to be theirs… Well, that's gotta be quite hard to take in." _Did I just say that? Did I just tell the flock that their parents wouldn't want them?_

A stunned silence descended like soft autumn leaves upon the flock. I mentally hit myself in the head for saying such a thing. I avoided everyone's eyes and focussed my gaze on the ground below us, feeling guilty for saying everything that was truly on my mind since we had found those dreaded papers with the supposed flock's parents' names and addresses on them. I could feel the cold air slapping my face and the even colder reality of the flock sinking into the seriousness of my words. And suddenly, our lives didn't seem so bright after all.

Literally.

Fang started a low and logical sermon about not worrying to the rest of the flock; 'we _will_ find your parents, you _will_ be accepted by them, don't worry until the time comes to worry, blah blah blah,' but I wasn't listening. My second-in-command's voice faded away as I frowned and dipped lower to see what was going on. That was quite hard, considering I was several hundred feet above the ground, it was night-time and the lights were blinking off.

Confused? I knew I was.

Below, I could see giant chunks of land that were once dotted with little yellow lights, were suddenly plummeting into darkness. It was as if a huge blackout had just swept through the state, like a plughole had been unplugged and all the light was getting sucked down the drain, leaving…darkness. The land mass beneath us just gave way to complete black mass.

The next second I knew, I couldn't even make out the tip of my nose on my face and then the rest of the flock were shouting out in bewilderment, as we too, plunged into darkness. The stars weren't helping any, and nor was the moon (since it was covered by a severe plume of clouds) so we were basically flying around as blind as bats. It would have been a great time to develop sonar; even our great raptor-vision couldn't permit us sight without the slightest ray of light.

"What just happened?" Angel's little voice sounded behind me.

"I hear screaming," said Iggy curiously. I heard him dip lower to my level so that he was slightly closer to the ground. Of course, he didn't notice the rest of us just went blind – he was blind already. Now I know how he feels. "It's like a big crowd of people just started screaming down there. What's going on?"

"I can't see anything!" Nudge squealed nervously, forgetting entirely about the whole 'parents' issue. Phew. Next problem: entire city blackout.

"Max? Fang? I can't see anything either!" Gazzy was quick to join the blind parade, then I heard him collide with something and Total giving out an offending yip. "Ew, I touched something wet… Oh, sorry Fang…"

"Washington DC just blacked-out," I informed Iggy, feeling his wings swishing about somewhere in front of me. "The power just went _poof_."

Iggy sounded like he was concentrating. "There must be riots down there. I hear loads of shouting… Nudge, stop bashing me with your wing."

"Sorry. I can't see anything."

"Great excuse, Nudge; I mean, you _are_ talking to a blind person, here."

Nudge sounded hurt. "I said I was sorry –"

"Whatever."

"Ig!" Fang's voice issued loud, but calm, above us. "Just listen out for a patch of land that is safe for us to land in – no people, no public transport, no sharp objects that we can impale ourselves on."

"And how am I gonna do that?" snapped Iggy frustratedly, "I've got good hearing, but I don't do the whole sonar thing." Damn. I guess that rules out the ultrasound power I thought up earlier.

"Just keep flying due south until you pass away from all the noise of the city," said Fang reasonably. Thank God one of us is thinking straight.

"Everyone still here?" I yelled out, taking the lead as the rest of the flock shouted back a 'yes'. "Ok, let's do as Fang says and fly in the same direction as we are now, only drop a little lower so that Iggy can hear what's going on down there. Keep up the same pace and don't lag behind - otherwise, we'll lose you."

I heard the swoop of wings and rustle of feathers, as we descended closer to the ground than we had ever gone before; if there was light, people would see us, but since there was none whatsoever, we had the cover of darkness on our sides. Something brushed my wing and I caught the faint smell of dog-breath to my right, so I immediately knew who it was before my comrade spoke up.

"We shouldn't fly so close to the ground," Fang advised me softly. "We could hit a building or something."

I didn't know what made me do it; what he said wasn't even funny and nor was our situation. But I still did it. I still managed to laugh. I snorted and had to cover my mouth with my hand to stop my spit from dropping down onto some poor human some feet below me. Us? Hitting a building? I mean, how stupid would we be to –

**_Thwack._**

Fang shouted a 'STOP!' behind me as a clash of shrill ringing bombarded my head and the rest of my body that had smacked into something _really_ hard. _Did I just –?_

"Max just crashed into a building," Fang explained to everyone in that monotone he uses when he's right and he knows it. _Grrr, how much more annoying can he get?_ The rest of his words, however, were lost to me as the ringing got even louder, giving way to a pain that was close to the pain I first felt when the Voice began to enter my brain. _Owww…_

Funny, the last thing I thought was about Fang. I think I think too much about him, even if it's just about how much me annoys me.

And as I slipped into the blackness that was already surrounding me, the Voice decided to get in one of its oh-so-funny quips. Eh, this Voice annoyed me too.

**_I hope you didn't just crash into the White House… _**

_**A.N. **As I've mentioned, School's Out Forever is not yet published where I live (UK), so I have no knowledge of what happens in the second book… I hope there are no similarities in my plot to what Patterson has already written – I don't want to be done for plagiarism!_

_**Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. The story gets livelier after this intro… please review and tell me if I should keep on posting!**_

_**Constructive criticism is appreciated (ie. NO flames)**_

**Daygoner**


	2. Never Test the Depth of Water

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride. But I'm looking to buy the second book soon.

_To some of the reviewers: _

**_Master Chief_** – _Uh… was that a compliment? Thanks anyway… I think…_

_**Paintedblue47** – Thanks for your review. I can't wait for SOF – people say it's better than TAE._

_**Ime247** – No offence, but your review had nothing to do with my story. I don't want flames, but I don't want things irrelevant to my writing; however, thanks anyway – I hope to get the second book soon. _

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**Wings of Hope**

Chapter Two: Never Test the Depth of Water With Both Feet

Ok, so I blacked out from winging myself slap bang into a building after laughing off the fact that I was practically blind and flying, stupidly, close to the ground (_point taken, Fang, point taken_). I didn't even black out for that long; just long enough for me to fall several feet onto the next rooftop down and severely bruise my butt. And this is the point where I ask 'Why me, why me?'

Or it could be the point where Fang hovers next to me, telling me 'I told you so' but I'm blocking that out on account for my aching butt and head. Well, for me, there's really no difference. _Sigh_.

"Max?" Angel called out my name from somewhere above, and I could hear she was trying not to giggle. "Are you ok?"

"Fine…" _Must get up without falling on ass again, must get up without falling on ass again, must get up – _

"Max, you hit that building _hard_," Iggy commented with a witty snigger. _Hahaha…_ NOT.

"Really? I hadn't noticed!" I said, finally standing up, though swaying dangerously on the spot. I reached out and grasped the closest thing to me, clutching on tight so that I my face didn't introduce itself to brickwork for the second time in one night. Come on, I gotta spare myself _some_ brain cells, right? I mean, they _are_ getting rather scarce up there.

"Max…?" Gazzy's voice percolated into my thoughts. "Why are you hugging my foot?"

I groaned and immediately released his sneakers. God knows where they've been. "Eurgh. My bad." Wiping my hands thoroughly on my already soiled pants, I shook the nausea off and ruffled my feathers to shake the dirt off them. I honestly felt like I had just taken a roll in dog crap; I even smelt of dog-crap… or wait, that could've been the stuff on my hands. I brought my palms blindly up to my face and grimaced. Note to self: remind Gazzy to watch what he steps in.

"I think I've found out what that stink was," I announced after shakily jumping into the air (and colliding painfully with little Angel – gosh, she's so big now), "And it's not Total… or it could be, I'd rather not know."

Fang snorted, as if he'd known all along. "We need to go," he said as soon as I'd gained an even wing-stroke pattern. "Iggy, can you still hear shouting?"

"Yeah; sounds like a riot's going on, or something."

"Then we've got to get further away."

I thought for a while – which was hard because my butt whinging sorely, adding to the cacophony of whining pains in my mind. "Ok, let's fly a bit higher this time and try to find a bit of a less-densely populated area to land in." I stopped to let my bird-senses pick up on a good direction to take. "Let's just go in the direction we were going in before I – um – had my accident."

Endless hours (several minutes) of strenuous flying later, Iggy called for us to halt and told us that it was getting a lot quieter the more we flew. Below, I could pick out various little lights flickering as the wind tossed them about. The people had turned to their ancestor's artificial light source – fire. Too bad we didn't have such ancestors per se, but I could hardly see a bird holding out a flaming torch to see in the night when there was no sun. A bird _on_ a flaming torch, maybe; barbequed chicken – yummy.

Anyway, the city below was lit by these tiny little bundles of fire. I could just about make out the figures of humans milling about in confusion, probably wondering what had happened to all the electricity. Though there was still not enough light to see the buildings around us, I swooped down lower once more, trying to gauge where would be the best place to land without attracting too much attention. A really black patch of land caught my interest. Most likely, there were either no people around there or – the more likely, since I seem to draw bad luck to myself like a magnet – some sort of snake pit, filled with venomous, scaly, non-legged creatures... Yikes.

"There," I pointed, indicating to the blank stretch of land below, "Head for that black area."

"Where?" Nudge flapped about somewhere above me. "There are black areas all over the place."

"Just – just – over there," I flailed my arms around in an empty gesture since she couldn't see me so clearly. Flying back up, I gave as-accurate-as-possible directions to where I wanted the flock to go – something along the lines of 'that kind of really dark black bit over there… can't you see it, you know, through the darkness and all?'

Soon, I was herding an exhausted flock towards the black spot. I didn't really care where it was – as long as it was black and preferably not a lake or body of water. I suppose that's why Fang made me go first. At least, if I ended up drowning, the rest of the flock would know not to follow.

"Don't follow me all the way down," I ordered them, three-quarters of the way through our descent, "Let me scout around first."

So I descended. The darkness enveloped me once more and I felt as though I was flying willingly into the belly of some God-forsaken demon. The smell of dampness and rotting snatched at my nostrils and I struggled to hold it a sneeze. The occasional _plink plink_ of water droplets would cause me to snap my head around to detect the sudden source of sound, only to relax hesitantly again. All too soon, I felt solid material beneath my shoes and allowed my wings to fold themselves tentatively into my back. Cautiously, I strained my ears and nose to help me perceive my surroundings a bit better, building a mental map out of sounds and smells in absence of my sight. Reaching out a hand, I felt forward to add touch to that list of senses. I felt coarseness rubbing against my fingertips. I frowned and carried on tiptoeing round, letting the unknown engulf me.

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Fang circled the spot where Max had gone down just minutes before. Or was it hours? He had no idea – only that he was left with the flock and she had gone down into who-knew-what without a reasonable back-up or safety plan. He should have objected or gone with her…

"Fang!"

The dark-haired boy's heart pummelled the insides of his chest and he forced it to calm down before he spoke. And when he did, he made sure it was in his usual carefully measured tone of calm. "What is it, Nudge?"

"Look! Look! Look!"

Fang's eyes darted across the blacked-out scenery below, taking in as much as possible with the limited light. His eyes narrowed further when he caught sight of Nudge's distress. Little pinpricks of light flared to light, slowly assembling to form a circle, surrounding something. The flickering sparks of red and yellow danced against a severely blackened background; the formation started to tighten around the apparent subject of attention. Immediately, Fang was straightening his body and wings, sweeping gracefully into a steep drop toward the ground.

"What? What is it?" Iggy was asking as the rest of the flock followed.

"Max is in trouble," Angel answered, sounding strangely direct and authorative.

Fang's heart constricted at the word 'trouble.' Of course, he thought, as he cut through the misty air, this could all be nothing to be worrying about. They could be swooping in onto something trivial and revealing themselves to befuddled humans for no apparent reason…

An angry screech from below tore furiously into his thoughts. Fang pushed the doubt out of his mind, squared his jaw and prepared for a crash landing.

Literally.

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_**A.N. **I've never fully appreciated how difficult it is to conduct a story in the dark. For those of you who don't know, or haven't tried – it's HARD! _

_**Thank you for reading; hope you enjoyed and please review (no flames).**_

**Daygoner**


	3. Keep Out of Reach of Children

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride. But I'm looking to buy the second book soon.

_**A.N. Thank you to:**_

_**Boglesinthecloset **– glad you're enjoying it. And comparing me to JP in even the slightest way was really up-lifting – thanks!_

_**Silentkiller** – Here's the next chapter – enjoy!_

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**Wings of Hope**

Chapter Three: Keep Out of Reach of Children

The sudden appearance of the flickering torches surrounding me was not a very comforting experience; firstly, my eyes complained loudly from the unexpected lift of darkness; secondly – and probably more importantly – the realization that I was not only surrounded my light, but also by people just about froze my nerve endings into frosty icicles that trickled cold water continuously down my spinal cord, causing me to tingle with icy dread.

The people were so close now, I could make out their facial features by the light of their dancing orange torches. I frowned; from what I could see, they were just children, the eldest not more than my age and standing slightly to the fore of the circlet of kids. He had a rugged look, with what seemed to be light brown hair and eerily green eyes that glinted an evil yellow as the light reflected off them, casting deep shadows under the sockets from which they peered out of. He was very Iggy-like: pale, tall and gangly, minus the blonde hair. I just hoped he wasn't a pyromaniac like Ig – he was the one holding the flaming torch, after all.

The circle of people closed in on me, different pairs of bright eyes shining out from the backdrop of darkness. I tried to shake off the feeling of deep freeze out of my bones, but my joints only creaked in complaint. Tension snapped all my muscles into a brick-like consistency and my wings were practically quivering by my spine. My hands curled themselves into tight fists, as my body automatically went into a combative stance; all the while, the children stepped uncomfortably closer.

I counted how far the green-eyed boy was from me: around ten meters away and advancing quickly. I vaguely considered attacking first, but initiating an attack was basically asking for an outright battle. There was still a chance that this was not supposed to be a violent encounter, and that the kids only wanted to –

Something jumped at me from behind, and my wonderfully efficient super-senses gave me around a split second warning before I was sent sprawling into the dirt with whoever attacked me. I rolled over before my face kissed the ground and leaped to my feet, doing an immediate sweep of my current positioning. A rustle of clothing to my right caught me off guard and for the second time in the past ten seconds, my face got an unwelcome greeting from the soil. This time, I didn't get the chance to roll, and grimaced when I tasted blood erupt from a split lip.

"Great," I muttered, scrambling ungracefully and quickly heaving myself to my feet. A fist shot out of nowhere, aiming for my nose, and I blocked, bringing my leg up for a kick a mere second later. My knees clicked as my leg snapped straight, and I heard the satisfying _poof_ of air as my heel forced all the oxygen out of my aggressor's lungs. My foe fell backwards, colliding bone-crunchingly with some other person that was standing behind him, eliciting a strangled scream of pain that echoed off into the night.

The reprieve didn't last long; another grimy pair of hands grasped my arms from behind and others followed, fastening themselves around my shoulder and elbows, restraining me as effectively as an extremely tight straitjacket. I could feel the heat of a torch burning close to my bare arms and the firm grips of my aggressors' fingers digging into my skin. I struggled furiously, astounded by my lack of energy and strength; I should have been able to defeat these kids with just my little finger, no wings, arms or legs attached. As it were, I couldn't even lift my stupid little finger, let alone perform amazing combative skills with it… Fang better not catch me in this scene; I'd never live it down. The incredible Maximum Ride, defeated by a group of infants. _Human_ infants. How embarrassing.

My hair prickled as a voice spoke out over all the hokum. Deep and resonant, it invoked a sense of dread in me that flew straight out to the tips of my feathers, and for a brief moment, I ceased all kinds of movement or thoughts of escape. "Who are you?"

The three words bounced around in my head for several seconds before I could muster a reply. "Well, I _was_ kicking your ass. Who are you?" It was a real shame my voice wasn't as deep or blood-freezing; try coarse and raspy, due to dehydration and excessive dust inhalation.

One out of the dozens of hands released me, and the torch came away from my arm. I looked up as the footsteps came round to in front of me, and my eyes met with two big pools of acid yellow, black pupils so small, they were barely visible. _Hello, Mr Deep Voice._

I became uncomfortably aware of the sudden rush of heat next to my face as the guy staring at me pulled away and his eyes were replaced with something just as yellow, but all the more deadly. I shut my eyes from the glaring heat and retracted my head as far back as it could go, as the dancing flames billowed closer and closer to my cheek.

"Who are you?"

"Who wants to know?"

A tendril of fire licked at my skin, and I tensed. "Answer the question," the boy growled authoratively.

"Why don't you answer hers?" An equally sonorous voice rumbled through the space around us, as a huge dark shape dropped out of the sky. Gusts of air blew the torch by my face into a frenzied dance that singed my hair, burning my skin a little too. Even though his voice and presence made me feel largely relieved, I still wanted to kill Fang for that. Instead of retracting his wings once he had landed, he extended them to their full fourteen feet, stunning the kids witless, making his appearance all the more impressive. But, oh yeah, it also meant that he completely blew our cover. I'll have to kill him for that, too.

The yellow-eyed boy whirled to face the direction of his new visitor, and was immediately greeted with a swipe that took the torch right out of his hands, followed almost simultaneously with a strong cuff to the head. I could feel the people holding onto me hesitating; should they keep a hold on me or help their leader and try their odds with the stranger with wings that just dropped out of space? Hmmm, let's see…

Taking advantage of their being stunned from Fang's surprise arrival, I gave an almighty burst of strength and finally broke free of my restraints, upturning a couple of people along the way as my arms drove upwards and out. I fell forwards and almost crashed right into… Nudge?

"Oh, my gosh! Max, are you ok?"

"Nudge! Duck!"

A plank of wood soared cleanly over our heads and struck someone behind us. The person who'd lobbed it was looking at me a bit guiltily.

"Sorry," Angel said innocently from where she was hovering, "but they're right behind you!"

I turned around, throwing out a protective arm to stop Nudge from proceeding further to our foes. "Don't! Where're Iggy and Gazzy?"

"Right here!" yelled Gazzy, flapping about to my left, chucking a brick at one of the kids that had caught me earlier. The girl squealed and dived behind the remnants of a wall for cover, and the brick fell into the space where her head had been seconds before.

"Gazzy!" I shouted, appalled. "Stop! She's not the threat anymore!" He looked at me, guilt identical to his sister's clouding his pure, childlike features, but I was not paying too much attention to him, instead, ordering Nudge back into the sky to rally Iggy (flying beside the Gasman, with not much of a clue as to what was going on), Gazzy and Angel and to keep and eye on them. "Make sure none of the other kids try anything." I said, (translated as, 'Throw more garbage at them – but only if they attack.') That sorted, I looked around anxiously for Fang.

_CLICK._

"Don't move!"

I froze, not knowing if that order was meant for me. But the cocking of a gun was a clear enough warning for everyone in the clearing. Sweat trickled down the side of my face and soaked the neck of my T-shirt as the gut-wrenching silence tore the atmosphere up into a million tiny pieces with its pent up tension. I bit my already-severed lip and inched my head round for a peek at the surroundings.

The yellow-eyed boy was holding a pistol levelled to Fang's forehead. They both sported rapidly-forming bruises and various shallow cuts, evidence of a minor scuffle where neither had come out best. That worried me – a mere human, equal to Fang?

The gun was steady in the boy's hands; he seemed confident and unhesitant about handling it, unafraid to shoot. Fang's arms were rigid by his sides, shoulders tensed and alert for any sudden movement. Not that that could save him – we're fast, but not fast enough to dodge bullets. This is not the Matrix, however sci-fi the story gets.

"Don't move," the boy repeated, backing away from Fang, but still training the gun to his head. I relaxed, knowing that I wasn't in immediate danger, and began a slow and steady tread towards them, hands up in a placating gesture.

"Come any closer," the boy warned with a snarl, "and I'll use Crow-Boy's brain to decorate that wall over there."

'Crow-Boy'? I would have laughed at Fang's expression at that, but given the dire circumstances…

I froze, mid-step. "Who are you and what do you want from us?" I asked him as evenly as I could manage. I wanted Fang to give me some indication that he was ok, but he was looking straight down the barrel of the gun and nowhere else. A few more beads of sweat traced their ways down my cheek.

Defiance edged the boy's voice as he responded, "I'll ask only one more time: who are you people?"

"We're… friends."

The boy shook his head. "Wrong answer."

My heart seized as his finger tightened around the trigger. "Wait!" His finger drew short, and no bullet exploded from the end of the gun. I breathed a sigh of relief; Fang blinked.

"What are you?" the boy snapped, firing another question at me, even though I had refused to answer his previous ones.

He wanted answers? I took a deep breath. "We're genetically enhanced, post-amniocentesis, ninety-eight percent human, two percent avian DNA, physically empowered, winged recombinants, fighting for survival in this harsh environment we all like to call 'Life.'" I waited for that the message to sink in, then stuck out my hand, even though I was way too far away to actually reach him. "Hi, I'm Max, nice to meet you." Well, I had to answer _all_ the questions, right?

The boy flicked a glance in my direction but Fang didn't even bat an eyelid at my rambling (he's probably gotten used to it by now). I waited, anxiety tearing up my insides as the boy kept stroking the trigger, as if itching to pull it.

"I've answered all your questions," I said boldly a few seconds later. "Why don't you be a good boy and answer mine?"

The boy nodded and I took this as my cue to pose a question.

"Who are _you_?" I wonder how many times we've heard _that_ in the past five minutes?

The boy frowned, as if trying to come up with an answer as long and as detailed as mine. I felt an urge to yell 'Ha, beat that, sucker!' – but this was hardly the time. And I'm mature enough not to, of course.

The boy's cold voice filled the atmosphere after a quiet moment's contemplation. "We are the Vallum."

I was baffled before, but now I'm officially confused. And I thought my long words and clever answer would confuse him. 'Amniocentesis' I said, 'physically empowered' – then he says 'Vallum' and I'm like 'HUH?'

It's usually me that gives the confusing speeches that befuddle everyone. This guy just topped mine with a four-word phrase. The sucker actually beat me.

Damn.

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**_A.N. Thanks for reading… review?_**

**Daygoner**


	4. A Dignified Death

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride. But I'm looking to buy the second book soon.

_**A.N.** I STILL haven't read SOF, so forgive me if Angel's powers are wrong here. I don't really know how they progressed in the second book, but from what I gather, she's gotten a bit more evil since TAE left off… _

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**Wings of Hope**

Chapter Four: Dignified Death

"What are they going to do?" whispered Nudge urgently, keeping watch (Iggy kept an ear out), like the rest of the flock, on the on-going scene below. Her blood iced over when she saw everyone on the ground freeze as the warning cock of a gun crackled into the night. Then her eyes locked onto where the gun was pointing. "Oh, my gosh, that boy's got a gun! Iggy! We have to stop him! He's gonna shoot Fang –"

Iggy swore, but composed himself quickly and took immediate charge of the situation. "Angel, go down there and work your mojo on Mr Gunslinger," he ordered quite simply, ears trained on the conversation below. Max was, unsuccessfully, negotiating with the gun-toting boy and Fang was not saying anything. Whether that was because he was being his usual strong and silent self, or whether he was unconscious because of a fight, Iggy had no idea.

Angel brushed a few stray curls out of her face. "Mojo?" she asked, only slight hesitation entering her voice despite the dire circumstances. "What do you want me to do?"

Iggy groaned frustratedly; listening in on the conversation below was like tuning into a fuzzy radio station – there was a strange static in the air, interfering with his hearing. Having people talking to him just made it worse. "I don't know! Make him drop the gun or something. Just make sure he doesn't shoot Fang or Max… or any of us!"

Angel nodded and swooped down towards where the yellow-eyed boy was standing. She didn't even get close. The Gasman shouted out a warning and she had a split second's time to whirl out of the way as something whistled past her wing. She frowned in confusion (_what was that?_); then, more unknown little whistling things shot by her body from the darkness below.

"Get back up here!" her brother was yelling, "They're shooting at you!"

Angel dodged a few more flying missiles and swept herself back up to where Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy were hovering. In a strangely hoarse and adult-like voice, she said, "No kidding, Gazzy."

A peculiar sensation was spreading through her shirt and soaking into the waistband of her jeans. Cupping a hand over her lower ribs and resisting the temptation to cry out, Angel felt warm liquid trickle between the joints of her fingers and a stinging pain erupt at her side. Discreetly, she brought her palm up to her face then hastily wiped it on the back of her pants before anyone noticed. Thankfully, her clothes were dark, concealing the blood.

Gazzy sounded hurt by his sister's uncalled-for sarcasm, the cause of Angel's sudden irate manner unbeknownst to him and the rest of the flock. "What's up with you, Angel?"

"She's hung out with Max too often," snapped Iggy, angered that their plans had been thwarted so quickly. "What do you mean 'they're shooting at you'? I didn't hear any gunshots."

"Yeah," agreed Angel, "More a sort of whistling sound."

"Arrows," reported Nudge, peering at the badly-lit scene below, where the yellow-eyed boy's minions were peeping out of their hidey-holes every so often to aim at the bird-kids above; of course, it was too dark for them to see, making it extremely hard for the minions to shoot on target. "I wonder where they got the bows and stuff… oh, look; they've got a stash behind that wall they were hiding behind. Wow, this place is like a broken-down medieval castle or something – complete with the weapons!"

Angel sighed wearily at this hearty observation, then stopped abruptly because it hurt her ribs. The Gasman and Nudge looked at her questioningly, but she waved them off.

"Arrows?" Iggy said incredulously after absorbing the fact. "What is this, the Dark Ages?" Then, softly, he added, "Pun not intended."

"Well, Angel's not going down there again," said Gazzy, determined to protect his sister from further attacks. Even though there wasn't a shaft sticking out of her side – the arrow had just grazed her skin – Angel was finding it hard to keep her eyelids from drooping, due to lack of energy and loss of blood. She rubbed her eyes and fought to stay alert.

"Can't you do your mind control thing from up here?" Iggy was asking her, also not keen to endanger any member of the flock any more than necessary.

"I've never done it without seeing the people that I'm working with clearly," said Angel uncertainly.

"There's a first time for everything," said Iggy encouragingly.

"I'll try," was all Angel could come up with.

Ignoring the pains that came every time she took a breath, she tried to focus her mind through the darkness and reach out to the kids that were attacking them, thinking _Stop, stop shooting, put up your weapons… Stop, stop attacking us…_

Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy waited on baited breaths as Angel fell deeper and deeper into palpable frustration, eventually grinding her teeth together the more she concentrated. The large, dark pupils in her eyes suddenly shrank into pinpricks and disappeared into her irises before she opened her mouth and belted out a shrill scream, tearing at her shirt viciously. Nudge gasped and flew forward to grab the raging child.

"Angel! Angel, stop, stop, stop," she said, grasping at the little girl's wrists. "What are you doing? Stop it!"

"Get them out!" Angel screeched, and Nudge had to resist clapping one hand over her ear and one over Angel's mouth. "Get them out of my head! I want them OUT!"

The Gasman's eyes were wide with worry for his sister. "What's happening to her? Angel!"

Iggy intercepted the eight-year-old before he could reach his sister. Putting a firm but reassuring arm around the younger bird-kid, he called out, "Nudge, what's wrong with Angel?"

"I don't know," Nudge said, almost wailing, as Angel let out a blood-curdling scream that threatened to tear her eardrums apart. "Angel, Angel please, stop it!" She put an arm around the youngest member of the flock, then pulled back slightly when she felt dampness beneath her fingers. "Angel… you're bleeding…"

The little girl gave no recognition of the fact, but she suddenly stopped screaming and went limp, a dead weight in Nudge's tired arms.

Then, they both started falling.

* * *

"The _who_?" I said, after it was clear that the guy needed some form of verbal reaction to his statement.

"The Vallum," the yellow-eyed boy repeated, though not condescendingly, as I had expected; more secretive and regretful, as if he didn't want to say the word too loud for fear of eavesdroppers.

"Right," I said under my breath, "that makes sense."

A shrill scream erupted from somewhere above us. My head snapped up, as did Fang's, the same thoughts in both our minds culminating in two words: _The flock…! _

I turned back to shoot a distressed signal at Fang, only to feel something uncomfortably pointy pressing into my back as my attention returned to what was happening on the ground. Fang's eyes widened a fraction as he assessed the situation.

'Don't move,' he mouthed; I nodded and was immediately rewarded with a firm stab to the back. _Ow_.

The yellow-eyed boy flicked a glance in my direction. "Where did you get those?" he asked, almost enviously.

I raised an eyebrow quizzically and opened my mouth to answer, when I heard a high, keening come from directly behind me. Then, an array of high pitched noises, clicks and general sounds followed and Fang's eyes were practically set to drop out of their sockets when he took in what was happening behind my back. I turned again to see what the hell was going on, but the yellow-eyed boy shouted out a warning.

"If you don't want thirty-two inches of carbon passing through your body, I suggest you keep still," he said seriously.

"Excuse me?" I stuttered. Thirty-two inches of carbon…?

A whooshing sound above ended the cacophony of calls from behind me. Without waiting for permission to move, my head whipped upwards once more and I was greeted with the sight of a rapidly dropping ball of limbs and different-colored feathers.

"Nudge!" I shouted, feeling the people behind me scatter to give her room to smash into the ground. She was holding onto Angel and Gazzy and Iggy were flying down after them feverishly. I got ready to leap into the air…

But Fang had beaten me to it. My mouth formed the shape of a horrified, 'NO…' as the yellow-eyed boy swung the gun up in his direction and squeezed off a shot, but the sound of my yell was lost in the report of the pistol. A fuzzy black form dropped out of the air with a little yelp and I felt my heart catch.

"FANG!"

Distracted, I looked up; Iggy was making a frantic grab for Angel, finally relieving Nudge of her burden before they all ended up completing their nosedives into the solid earth. Gazzy grasped Nudge a beat later and somehow managed to keep her hovering just above ground level, Iggy pulling up beside them. I sighed with relief as The Gasman gave me a signal to say that they were all ok – and though I was worried about Angel (why was she unconscious!), she seemed to be in safe hands for the time being.

I turned to face gun wielding idiot. "You asshole," I snarled, hands itching to wrap themselves around his throat. "You killed him!"

The guy looked minutely fearful for a second. "How – how did he – so fast… I didn't see –"

He was cut off as I tackled him. Flinging the gun out of his hands, I smashed my fist into his face, using the other hand to throttle him. Choking him gave me so much pleasure, and, for a moment, I was disgusted with this new sadistic side to me. Only for a moment, though.

"S-stop," he managed to spit out, eyes bulging with amber vividness.

"Make me," I growled, increasing the pressure on his neck. His chest shuddered.

"I – g-g-guarant-tee – you fr-free passage – if y-you let m-me go!"

I shook my head, sliding my other hand around his throat and tightening my grip. His skin took on a beetroot red shade.

"Max, let him go." Fang's cool words rolled over me as he, supporting Nudge, led the others down with him.

"But he killed him!" I said unreasonable tears building in my eyes. Fang merely reached out a hand to help release mine from the boy's neck. His cold fingers wrapped around my arm with light pressure, but, nonetheless, I felt my palms lifting away from our foe's throat. The boy gasped and started gulping down lungfuls of live-giving air.

"Either way," Fang whispered, putting a calming hand on my shoulder as I rose from the floor, "his promise of free passage would be wasted if you killed him." Indicating around us, Fang awakened me to the threat of half a dozen arrow points aimed in our direction. Ah, thirty-two inches of carbon… right.

A girl to my right started making clicking noises with her tongue. Soon, her accomplices were making answering calls with the same weird variety of sounds I had heard behind my back earlier. They were communicating, I realized. Fang straightened stiffly beside me, his hand clenching defensively on my shoulder.

A movement in front of us ceased all forms of 'talking' between the kids that were intent on spearing us. The yellow-eyed boy had gotten up, rubbing his neck and groaning, to address us. But first, he motioned for the others to lower their weapons, and they did so – grudgingly. _No kebabs for you tonight_, I thought absurdly, eyeing the arrows that would have been perfect for skewering six bird-kids for supper.

"What the hell was that for!" the yellow-eyed boy startled us by blurting hoarsely. "You nearly killed me!"

"That was kind of the point," Fang muttered at my side.

"Well, you killed _him_." I jerked my head in the direction of the fallen bundle by Iggy's feet.

"What, _that_?" the boy said incredulously.

"What do you mean, '_that_'?" I snapped. "You killed the dog!" I briefly thanked God that Angel was unconscious during this exchange, and my stomach clenched at the thought of having to break the news to her later. Even so, it would have been harder – _much_ harder – to inform her of Fang's death if Total hadn't leaped in to save the day. I meant this literally; the little dog had jumped straight into the line of fire, and I had no idea where he had come from (Fang must have dropped him off somewhere), but I was grateful. _If Fang had died… _I pushed the thought firmly from my mind.

"You nearly killed me _for a dog_," the boy was saying indignantly.

"Shows how high you rate on her priorities list," Fang snarked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Let's go," I said, gesturing for the flock to jump back into the sky before the boy revoked his offer. Fang was winding him up plenty and I wasn't about to chance it. Besides, I probably would have ended up killing him myself if he kept insulting Total… Whoever knew I would become so attached to the stupid mutt?

**_Since Angel started exhibiting her possibly dangerous powers_**, the Voice informed me silkily.

_If you're implying that I'm scared of Angel –_ I started to think back, but was then cut off. The other kids were chattering again, their keen 'voices' cutting back my angry response to the Voice.

"They say that you have Vox Penitus," the yellow-eyed boy translated a few moments later, awed.

God forbid if they spoke to me in a language I actually understood! "Wait a moment whilst I fish out my dictionary for Meaningless Crap," I told him sarcastically. To Fang, I muttered, "Let's just go. I've had enough."

"It's the Inner Voice," the boy whispered, freezing me as I turned.

"What makes you say that?" I breathed, only vaguely aware of Fang's comforting hand grasping my arm, reminding me of his presence.

The children surrounding us started 'talking' again. The boy listened intently and finally said, "You must stay."

"Not in a million –"

**_You should stay_**, the Voice advised me before I could finish the sentence. **_It would help you onto the path to save the world…_**

_Can those kids hear you?_ I thought quickly.

**_Maybe._**

_That's not helpful._

Silence. Ignoring the wild noises of 'chatter' going on around us, I ran the conversation – if you could call it that – by Fang.

"What are you going to do?" he asked when I had finished.

"I think… if it means that I can finally figure out what I've got to do, then maybe we should stay," I murmured, looking closely for his reaction. "I mean, you've got to admit, it was pretty weird that they could pick up on the Voice in the first place. Maybe they can get rid of it, or at least tell me what it's on about." Talk about snap decision-making; one minute I'm ready to fly off, the next, I'm booking an overnight stay.

"Ok," was all Fang answered, seconding my decision without batting an eyelid. Whether this was a good thing, I didn't know, but I appreciated his approval all the same.

"You're staying," the boy said to me. It was not a question.

"Yes," I said simply, eliciting sounds of surprise from Gazzy and Nudge at my agreement. "There's one thing that really concerns me, though," I added.

The yellow-eyed boy gave a crooked grin. "We give our words that we won't shoot you," he assured me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Ok, make that two things. We're only coming with you on one condition."

He watched me suspiciously and I cast a wary glance at Angel's little body in Iggy's arms, finally settling my glance in Total's direction. Though not really upset that the dog was no longer around, I knew that the flock's youngest member would be distraught – and furious at the one who murdered her pet. I pitied the person who was to deliver the news of Total's demise.

"The condition is: _you _are going tell Angel who killed her dog. Good luck with that."

* * *

_**A.N. **I've got six more days MAX (no pun intended) 'til I can get my hands on SOF! I can't wait!_

_Ok, notes on the chapter – sorry if you liked Total. I had to kill him off because I didn't want to deal with so many characters, and I would have probably forgotten to add the dog in every now and then – and that would have been a stupid/careless thing to do. Plus, I gave Total a perfectly honourable death – he died to save Fang! If that's not noble, then I don't know what is…_

_Anyway, many apologies if you liked Total. You probably think I'm just mean and sadistic. And you're not far off the mark!_

**_Please review – I'm getting less and less per chapter! But I'm not that desperate that I'd accept flames…_**

**Daygoner**


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